Sundance winners Balerta Basholi and Myrsini Aristido compete in Meet the Neighbors+ Thessaloniki competition (Exclusive)

The 67th International Thessaloniki Film Festival, which will be held from November 5 to 15, has announced the combination of the Meet the Neighbors+ and >>Film Forward competitive sections. Films in the Meet the Neighbors+ category include Balerta Basholi, who won at Sundance with The Hive, and who comes to Thessaloniki with the Kosovo war drama Doa, […]

The 67th International Thessaloniki Film Festival, which will be held from November 5 to 15, has announced the combination of the Meet the Neighbors+ and >>Film Forward competitive sections.

Films in the Meet the Neighbors+ section include Balerta Basholi, who won at Sundance with The Hive, and comes to Thessaloniki with the SACD winner of the Cannes Critics' Week SACD award-winning Kosovo war drama Doa. Also competing is Mirceni Aristido's "Hold Onto Me," winner of the Audience Award in the World Cinema - Drama section of the Sundance Film Festival. The film was described in a Variety review as "a heartfelt drama" that "follows a good-natured young girl who is smitten with her long-absent, abusive father." Pierre Le Gall's gay trucker love story "Meat and Fuel," which won Zurich's best film, is also in the running. RELATED STORIES 'Social Research' review: Aaron Sorkin's follow-up to 'The Social Network' more than David Fincher's 'Normalness' review: A kind, complicit Taiwanese family melodrama

This section includes the first or second films of future cinema directors who "intend to provide us with a deeper understanding of life, the human condition and the state of things in a wider geographical area, or to take a look at the world "beyond our neighborhood" through a unique and original artistic prism. Popular in Variety

The jury consists of Cristina Cassano, head of the promotion of contemporary Italian cinema at Cinecittà, filmmaker Sofia Exarco, and film editor Anne Ostrode.

The films will compete for the Golden Alexander Award – Michel Dimopoulos, with a cash prize of 10,000 euros ($11,240) and the Silver Alexander Award for Best Director, which comes with a cash prize of 5,000 euros ($5,620). The jury will also award Best Actor and Actress awards and may also award a Screenplay Award or an Artistic Achievement Award.

"Chronicles of the Siege", Abdullah al-Khatib, Algeria-France-Palestine "Prayer", Belreta Basholi, Kosovo-Switzerland-France "Meat and Fuel", Pierre Le Gall, France-Poland "Rage", Rami Kediyeh, Lebanon-Brazil, "Darkest" Slovenia-Greece-Croatia-Italy-North Macedonia "Until the Day Ends", Jelena Maksimovic, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Montenegro, Germany, Croatia, "Where the Giants Sleep", Arthur Michel, Belgium, Kosovo, Efana's Greece "Crucified" World Premiere, Theo Papadolakis, Greece-Italy-Luxembourg-Cyprus (European Premiere) "Hold on Me", Myrsini Aristido, Cyprus-Greece-Denmark "The Lion on My Back", Tonia Michiali, Cyprus-Luxembourg-Greece

These films compete for the Golden Alexander Award >>FilmForward – Best Feature Award, with a cash prize of €10,000, the Silver Alexander Award – Best Director, with a cash prize of €5,000, and the Best Actor and Actress awards. The jury may also award the Best Screenplay Award or the Best Artistic Achievement Award.

Chronovisor, Jack Owen, Kevin Walker, USA, Filipina, Rafael Manuel, Singapore-UK-Philippines-France-Netherlands "I plant my hand in the garden", Boris Hajia, Hoda Taheri, Germany-Serbia-USA. "Object A", Ann Oren, Germany-Luxembourg-Greece "Ponderosa", Rob Rice, USA "Promised Spaces", Ivan Markovic, France-Germany-Cambodia-Serbia "Snapshot", Joseph Archer, UK "The Golden Age, France-Tali-Dosartic" Argris Germanidis, Greece-Germany (world premiere) "Under the Judas Tree", Christos Manson Chouliaras, Greece-Cyprus